Melissa Studdard

Melissa Studdard
Born August 5, 1969 (age 45)
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S.
Residence Houston, Texas
Nationality American
Education University of Houston,
Sarah Lawrence College
Occupation Teacher,
author,
poet,
writer,
interviewer
Known for Six Weeks to Yehidah
Website Melissa Studdard

Melissa Studdard born August 5, 1969, Tuscaloosa, Alabama is an American author, poet, editor, book reviewer, talk show host, and professor. Her bestselling[1] middle-grade novel, Six Weeks to Yehidah won a Forward National Literature Award and Pinnacle Book Achievement Award.[2] The accompanying journal, My Yehidah, was released in December 2011 and was quickly adopted by art and play therapists for clinical use in adolescent therapy sessions.[3]

Melissa Studdard's written works are widely published and are often of a spiritual nature. They mostly focus on themes of unity, transcendence, divinity, and the human potential.[4] She writes and publishes in the literary disciplines of poetry, short stories, novels, fantasy, young adult, middle grade, children’s, spiritual, metaphysical, interviews, and creativity journals.

Studdard is a full-time college professor at Lone Star College–Tomball and a teaching artist for The Rooster Moans Poetry Cooperative. From 2010 to 2012, she was an editor for The Criterion: An International Journal in English. She currently serves as an editor for Tiferet Journal, a reviewer-at-large for The National Poetry Review, and host of the blogtalkradio program Tiferet Talk,[5] for which she has interviewed such notable figures as Jane Hirshfield, Julia Cameron, Robert Pinsky, Floyd Skloot, Edward Hirsch and Krista Tippett.

Melissa Studdard reading at Flintridge Bookstore and Coffeehouse in Los Angeles, March 18, 2012. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Melissa.Studdard.public.speaking.jpg

Early life

Melissa Studdard was born in Alabama, United States, and was raised in Texas. She received her B.A. (1991) and M.A. (1995) from the University of Houston, and her M.F.A. (1997) from Sarah Lawrence College. While at the University of Houston, Studdard worked on the college’s literary journal, Gulf Coast, as a production editor, curated the Gulf Coast Reading Series, and taught college courses for the Houston Community College System. While at Sarah Lawrence College, she worked as an assistant editor at Chelsea (magazine) and taught for City University of New York at Baruch College, John Jay College, and Hunter College. She then briefly taught at San Jose State University and the University of Houston–Downtown, prior to accepting a full-time teaching position with Lone Star College in 2001. Her students refer to her as Studdardbrain because of her erratic patterns in conversation.

Works

Selected short works

Studdard's work has been published in dozens of journals, magazines, and anthologies, including Boulevard (magazine), Southern Humanities Review, Pleiades, American Book Review, Poets & Writers, Connecticut Review, and Psychology Today.[5]

Awards and Honors

References

  1. ↑ All Things that Matter Press
  2. ↑ Forward National Literature
  3. ↑ Chiron Volume 31 Jung Foundation of Ontario
  4. ↑ The Criterion Interview
  5. 1 2 About the Staff. Tiferet: A Global Community of Writers
  6. ↑ The Forward National Literature Award Winner -- 2011
  7. ↑ Readers Favorite Award Winner -- 2012
  8. ↑ Indie Excellence Award Winner -- 2012
  9. ↑ Pinnacle Book Award Winner -- 2012
  10. ↑ Readers Favorite Award Winner -- 2013
  11. ↑ Pinnacle Book Award Winner -- 2013
  12. ↑ International Book Award Winner -- 2013
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